Craig’s Corner
“Large and in charge?”
A few years ago I was renting a van for a Camp Session in Seattle Washington. I had made reservations, so it should have been a fairly short transaction. Yet, I would spend over an hour there. The hold up was a tiny, but angry customer. Well, she started angry and passed through “irate” a few minutes later. The office was small and the rental agency staff was all red-faced. The target for this wrath was a skinny tall fellow … he was all of 18 or 19 years of age. He could have easily reached across the counter and popped her on the top of her red-glowing head. (I must confess … I might have applauded!) Instead he tried reasoning … pointing out what the paper work actually said … but rarely got a word in due to her rant.
After 20 plus minutes of this, she demanded to speak to the manager. The part that frustrated me the most that day was … he was only 5 feet away hoping this would all blow over. He was letting this kid take a beating!
Why do people “lose it” with others like that? Why are some people so demanding? How can one flawed human be so critical of another? Chances are … in her case, she lived in a world where others speak to her with such disrespect. In her world, she’s probably a very small fish in a large pond. This boy is probably the only person she feels empowered over.
It took about 15 minutes for the color to come back into the boy’s face. I loved his attitude. In his mind, she was having a bad day … and he refused to take it personal.
You see, the problem is … there is never an exception where treating another human less than human is even remotely OK. We’re all small fish in a big pond. It seemed OK in our Pre-Jesus era. Every one else did the same. But let’s be honest, there’s not much about our Pre-Jesus era that is worth repeating or celebrating.
So how can we swim well with other fish? Let God’s Spirit make your responses. His responses are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control (Galatians 6:22) You will find your “old” self in the section just before this.
Large and in charge? Nah … Blessed to get to serve like Jesus .. Love like Jesus … build the people around me and not just try to manage my space.
Your fellow servant!
Craig